Shinji Wilson
by gunman
Summary: Shinji is teleported to Africa, where he phases through Wade Wilson, gaining all of his abilities, but not his personality. Here he becomes Wolverine's and Wraith's newest ally.
1. The New Merc

_**SHINJI WILSON  
**_by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, or their characters.

Summary: Shinji is teleported to Africa, where he phases through Wade Wilson, gaining all of his abilities, but not his personality. Here he becomes Wolverine's and Wraith's newest ally.

Authors Notes: Please bare in mind that I'm kinda 'eyeballing' alot of these ideas, such as the dates, so don't judge me too quickly.

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Chapter 1  
**The New Merc**

(Africa, 1975)

"VICTOR!" Logan shouted as he leapt at his half-brother, grabbing his arm and stopping him from killing yet another innocent villager. "Don't even think about it!" he growled at the slightly older man. "We didn't sign up for this. Put him down!" he insisted.

Victor, a tall and imposing man with short hair and rather long nails, let the man go and turned to his little brother, a man with wavy brown hair and sideburns that were turning into a beard.

"What are you doing?" Victor asked, obviously irritated. "We finally got a good thing going here. Don't you screw this up."

"Enough. That's enough. We've done enough." Logan insisted.

"Who do you think you are?" Victor hissed. "This is what we do. Maybe you'd rather be rotting in a hole somewhere till they figure out a way to do it to us, is that it? Huh?"

Logan stared at Victor for a few seconds, before replying.

"I'm done. You coming?" Logan asked.

When he didn't receive an answer, Logan released his older brother and started walking away.

"Jimmy!" Victor shouted.

Logan stops walking, turning back to the assembled group of 'unique' men like himself.

"We can't just let you walk away." Victor stated.

Without saying a word, Logan ripped off his name-tags and threw them to the ground.

"Jimmy! Jimmy!" Victor called out.

However, as Logan is walking away, a strange thunder storm starts up. A swirling black and purple portal explodes open right in front of the group.

"What is that?" Fred Dukes, the largest and most muscular of the group, with short blond hair and a tattoo of a woman on his left arm asked.

"Do I look like I know?" John Wraith, the only black man on the team who wore a cowboy hat said to the large man.

"Is it dangerous?" Chris Bradley, the shortest and seemingly meekest of the group, asked.

"How should I..." John started to say, only to get preempted.

BOOM!

The group of mutant soldiers were practically knocked backwards as the portal glowed brightly, and a human figure was practically fired from the dark circle like a cannonball, flying right towards Wade Wilson. The good-looking, sword-wielding merc in the red shirt, who was known for his lightning fast moves, was caught off-guard like the others. The boy was hurled so quickly at Wade that the merc had no time to react, which would have resulted in him slicing the boy to ribbons with his swords. Instead, the boy slammed into his chest and knocking him down.

Only a couple of them noticed the unusual electrical energies that surged around both the boy and Wade, and within a few seconds of the portal's closing, the electrical surges faded also.

"Wade! Are you alright?" Major William Stryker, the team leader and only human on their team, asked the mercenary swordsman.

Wade rolled the boy off of him and stood up. "I think so, sir. I don't appear to be suffering from any kind of post-traumatic stress or injuries, or any kind of physical..."

"Wade, Shut It!" Stryker snapped.

"Who is he?" John Wraith asked, light nudging the unconscious Japanese boy with his foot.

"Do I look like I know?" Wade asked. "Just ran into the kid myself."

"Should we take him with us?" Zero, the more Asian-looking man with the handguns, asked.

"Yes. We can at least learn more about him." Stryker said. "Considering how he got here and all."

"What about Jimmy?" Victor snarled.

"Don't worry about Logan. We'll get him back." Stryker said with a smile.

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Shinji blinked his eyes open, staring straight up at yet another unfamiliar ceiling.

"Where am I?" he asks to no one in particular.

"Good. You're awake." a middle-aged man in a military uniform said.

Shinji sat up as three men entered the room.

The first was the middle-aged man in the dark blue military uniform, he had dark hair that seemed to show the first signs of white edges near his ears. The second looked like an American man with soft wavy light blond-brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, he was dressed in a red shirt, black cargo pants and had a pair of swords strapped to his back. The third looked like a Korean man with a pair of guns in holsters under both arms, dressed in a white shirt and black pants.

"My name is Major William Stryker. This is Wade Wilson," he said, indicating the man with the swords. "And this is Agent Zero." he said, indicating the man with the guns.

Shinji nodded to each of them before he spoke. "Ikari Shinji."

Taking his first name to be Shinji, given that he was Japanese, the Major spoke again.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but so do we. To start with, do you know where you are?" Stryker asked.

"No." Shinji said.

"You're in a special military hospital where we brought you after we found you." Stryker said.

"Found me?" Shinji asked, not sure where he had been beforehand.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Stryker asked.

"I was... in a battle. My Eva was being swallowed by an Angel. I was trapped inside it for several hours... and then... I guess I passed out. Am I... still in Japan?" Shinji asked.

"Actually you were in Africa, where we found you." Wade said.

"Africa?" Shinji gasped.

"Do you know what year it is?" Agent Zero asked.

"2015." the young man replied.

The trio looked at each other in shock.

"Actually, the year is 1975. And you're in America right now. North America. Just outside of New York. The state, not the city." Wade said.

Shinji's eyes went wide as he just stared at the trio. They didn't seem to be lying to him, since it was not the kind of thing that a person would or could lie about. At least not convincingly.

"Then... the war never happened?" Shinji asked.

"War? What war?" Stryker asked.

"World War III. After Second Impact." he said.

"Second Impact?" Zero asked.

"Yes. In 2000, an Angel exploded in the Antarctic and caused flooding and devastation all over the world. 3 billion people were killed within a month's time. As more people started dying, the world governments panicked and started shooting at each other. Millions of people died before the United Nations put a stop to it in 2002." Shinji explained.

Again the trio looked at each other with shock. This kid didn't seem like a liar, or even that creative. He seemed scared and nervous, but what he was saying sounded like a rehearsed history lesson.

"Shinji, do you feel strong enough to stand up?" Stryker asked.

"Uh... yes. Sir." Shinji said as he pulled himself out of the bed, noticing he was dressed in a pair of plain white children's pajamas.

As he stood up, he noticed that he wasn't as fatigued as he normally was. He was steady, not even his normal shaky walk. And he wasn't in any form of pain. Which to him was strange.

"How do you feel?" Zero asked.

"Good. Really good." Shinji replied to the Korean man. "But I shouldn't be."

"Why not?"

"I'm usually not whenever I wake up in a hospital." he explained.

"Shinji... when we brought you here, we naturally did a series of tests on you in order to make sure you were healthy. The blood and DNA test results were... unique." Stryker said to him.

"Unique?" Shinji asked, slightly confused, and worried.

"I'd like to test you." the older man said.

"Test... me?" Shinji asked. "How?"

"Wade, give him your swords." Stryker said to the American young man.

"Oh, no. I couldn't do that, sir. They're very special to me. It would be like cutting off one of my own arms." Wade protested.

"That can be arranged. Now give him your swords." Stryker ordered.

Wade huffed but pulled his swords out of their sheaths from behind his back and handed them to Shinji, who accepted them rather reluctantly.

He gripped the handles tightly, noticing how light the swords felt. He would have expected both weapons to be heavier, since he knew for a fact he wasn't that strong.

"Zero... shoot him." Stryker said as he and Wade backed up.

"WHAT?" Shinji gasped.

Zero pulled his guns out of his holsters and aimed them at Shinji. Instantly, the boy was on the defensive. Zero pulled the triggers on his guns, bullets firing straight at him at point-blank range.

Panicked, Shinji's mind suddenly shut down, a strange, unknown impulse taking over, causing him to pull the swords up quickly, blocking each bullet that was fired. Stryker and Wade just stared in shock as Shinji deflected each bullet with almost superhuman ease and skill, slicing half of them to pieces and deflecting the others back towards Zero, the bullets flying all around the gunman's body.

And for some reason, none of the bullets hit Zero, Wade or Stryker himself.

Zero's guns soon ran out of bullets. Shinji dropped the swords as soon as the shooting stopped.

"What... how... Are You Trying To Kill Me?" Shinji shouted in panic.

"If I was trying to kill you, I wouldn't have given you Wade's swords." Stryker said as the talkative merc retrieved said weapons. "It was a test, Shinji. And you passed."

"Test? Passed? What for?" Shinji asked, his heartbeat only now starting to slow down.

"There's a lot to explain. We'll get you a fresh set of clothes and something to eat. Then... I'll explain everything as best I can." Stryker said with a smile.

Stryker, Wade and Zero left the room. Shinji sat back down on the bed.

He looked at his hands, both of them now visually shaking.

_What did they do to me?_ He thought to himself.

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It was an hour later and Shinji found himself in a small lounge eating lunch with the man called Wade Wilson. They were joined by three other men.

One was a large man with a crew-cut, kind of whitish hair, and a tattoo of a woman on his left arm. The second was a much smaller young man with a very short haircut, unshaven face, and seemed to be carrying a small shotgun around with him. The third man had dark skin and wore a cowboy hat and a pair of large sunglasses.

"So you're the new guy, huh?" the dark-skinned man in the cowboy hat said.

"Um... I guess?" Shinji replied.

The man smiled. "Relax, kid. Name's John. John Wraith." he said as he sat down on Shinji's right. "This is Chris Bradley, and that's Fred Dukes." he said, indicating the small man and then the larger man who sat down across from them. "We're all on the same team as Wade here. Stryker told us we'd be getting a new guy. Guess you're him."

Shinji didn't have an answer for that, and stared intently at his food.

John looked at Wade, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess the Major's getting slow in his old age, or desperate, putting a teen on our team. But the kid's a good candidate. He's just like me." Wade said.

The trio looked at Shinji, then back to Wade.

"If that were true, he'd be talking more. A lot more." Fred said.

John and Chris just nodded their heads.

John and the others spent the next few minutes trying to engage Shinji in conversation, until three other men walked into the room. Shinji instantly recognized Major Stryker and Agent Zero. But the third man that was with them, immediately scared Shinji. He was tall, hulking, dressed head to toe in black, unshaven face, and very sharp-looking fingernails.

"Ah, good. Everyone's here." Stryker said as they approached the table. "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Shinji Ikari. He is, like Wade and Zero, a unique individual."

The group looked at Shinji and then back to Stryker as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. There was more than what they were being told. And why were Wade and Zero being singled out?

Shinji in particular gave Stryker his undivided attention.

"Shinji, when we brought you in for testing, it was discovered that you have a unique genetic anomaly. Similar to Wade, you have an 'enhanced' physiology. Far greater than a normal human. But this enhancement has also given you a rather unique mutation of your own. Much similar to Victor here."

Shinji turned to the hulking, scary-looking man next to Stryker.

"Enhancement? Mutation?" Shinji questioned.

"Yes. Shinji... have you ever been able to do something that was... extraordinary? Like... block bullets with swords?"

"No." he answered quickly.

"Well, you do now. You possess an enhanced physical prowess that makes you stronger, faster, more agile than a normal human being. But there is something else in your physiology that we believe was activated by your gaining these physical enhancements. A natural mutation of sorts." Stryker said. "In your case, a unique healing factor that is on par with that of Victor here."

Shinji just stared at Stryker, more confused than ever. But now he was frightened.

"Oh, my apologies. I assume you've met everyone here. This is Victor Creed." he said, indicating the scary man in the black jacket and pants.

"Hi." Victor said curtly.

Shinji only nodded to the man.

Victor smiled a little, sensing the fear that was rolling off the boy.

"I'm... I'm some kind of... freak?" he gasped, almost asking the Major.

"Hey!" John snapped. "You ain't no freak! Okay? At least not to us."

"Everyone here is rather unique, Shinji. Like you. That's why we want you on our team." Stryker said. "Unless you have some place else to go?"

Shinji looked down at his food. He seemed more confused than before.

"I... I really... don't know." Shinji said, thinking back to everything he had seen.

Walking from the hospital to the mess hall, Shinji had passed several offices and rooms, each with wall calenders and even desk-top day calenders that showed what the date was.

The people he had seen thus far were all dressed in simple, kind of old fashioned clothing. And he had even seen the cars outside the building.

If this whole thing was some kind of trick or hoax, it was a very elaborate one.

"I... I don't have any training." Shinji said.

"You couldn't have convinced us of that an hour ago." Stryker said with a smile.

"I don't even know what happened or how I did that." Shinji stated.

"You reacted. Pure instinct. And with the same skills Wade had." Stryker said. "Now I'm not some theoretical scientist, Shinji. I couldn't possibly tell you _how_ you gained those skills. But the fact is, you have them, and it would be a shame to waste them."

"And if you want, we can get you a pair of swords of your own." Wade said. "You seem to have quite a talent for it."

"What would I be doing?" Shinji asked.

"Protecting the world from all manner of threats. Dangerous threats. Specifically, threats of a more superhuman nature." Stryker said. "You see, Shinji, there are people in the world with unique skills and abilities, like you and everyone at this table. People who don't view the world the same way we do. People who, for all intents and purposes, are criminals. Terrorists with super powers. Like out of a comic book. These threats, need to be countered, and if necessary... eliminated."

Shinji didn't seem too convinced about this.

"You said... you said I was like Mr Wade and Mr Zero. But like Mr Creed as well. How am I like him?" Shinji asked.

"Victor possesses a unique healing factor. It keeps him nice and healthy, and regenerates his body from any injury he gets. Knife wounds and even bullet wounds heal up quickly in a matter of seconds." Stryker said.

"Would you like to see?" Victor asked, walking over to the boy.

Shinji looked up at the tall and imposing man.

"Can I stop you?" Shinji asked.

"Probably not. But you wanted to know, right?"

Shinji nodded.

"Roll back your sleeve." Victor ordered him.

Shinji carefully rolled his sleeve back. Victor stretched out his hand over the boy's arm, the fingernail on his pointer finger extending into a point. He brought his fingernail across Shinji's skin, carving a long line from his wrist to his elbow, and drawing blood.

Shinji winced, but didn't cry out. Compared to what he had gone through inside his Eva, this was nothing. Looking down at his arm Shinji gasped when he saw the lengthy incision quickly heal itself up. Grabbing the napkin, Shinji wiped the blood away from his arm.

"Not... not even a scar." Shinji whispered after a few more seconds.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Stryker said. "Sufficient to say, your health issues are pretty much taken care of. I mean, Victor hasn't needed a doctor in... decades."

"So... what do we do now?" Wade asked.

"Well, the first thing we need to do, is train our newest recruit. That is... if you want to join us."

Shinji looked at Stryker. "You're... giving me the choice?"

"Of course. I prefer to have people work for me of their own free will. Forcing unique individuals like you to work for me has often proved disastrous in the past."

"Last time I... wasn't given a choice. My father..."

Victor cocked an eyebrow at hearing that.

"What about your father?" Victor asked rather curtly.

"He was the commander of the agency I was... recruited in to." Shinji said.

"Recruited?" John asked, his eyebrow raised.

"He left me when I was four years old, after my mother died. I didn't hear from him for over ten years, until he called me back to work for him. He said that he had a need for me. That I was finally useful. I... thought that maybe he wanted to see me again because..." he paused at the thought.

"You thought he wanted to be a family again." John said.

"Yes. But he just wanted to use me." Shinji said.

The group looked at Shinji, seeing the angst rolling off of him. Each of them could tell that he wasn't lying about any of this. Victor knew this as well, as his scent didn't change to that of a liar.

"Use you... how?" Bradley asked.

"He wanted me to pilot a weapons system that his agency had developed."

"Pilot a weapons system? You? You're a kid!" Zero said.

"I'll be 15 in June." Shinji said.

The group looked at each other in shock. He was younger than they thought he was.

Stryker himself had issues with his son. Victor, he had father-issues. So in a way, they both had a degree of sympathy for the boy.

"Join us, Shinji. And maybe we will be able to make your life better than it was before." Stryker said.

"But I don't have any training. Even if I can do... what I did before." Shinji stated.

"Yes, you have skills, but you're not 'perfect' just yet. We'll train you, Shinji. Wouldn't want you dying on us when it could so easily be avoided." Stryker said.

"Would I have to pilot a giant robot?" he asked.

The group looked at Shinji and then at each other in confusion.

"No, no. Nothing like that. We actually have much... simpler means of dealing with all of these problems. Soldiers, on the ground, face-to-face with the enemy. And speaking of which, we need to get going. Are you with us, Shinji?" Stryker asked as the group stood up around the table, one-by-one.

Shinji looked at the men standing around him, before slowly rising to his feet himself.

"Welcome to Team X!" Stryker said with a smile.

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Authors Notes:

Not much I can say about this. This is mostly a test chapter to see just what I can do with this idea. I've wanted to do an Eva/X-Men crossover for a while, so this is kinda perfect. When I saw the movie: 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', I knew I wanted to use that as a basis for what I had in mind. However, I wasn't sure how to get this started, but after a while, I thought how much of a waste it was for Wade to be turned into 'Deadpool'. I mean... honestly? Super healing and teleportation is one thing, but laser vision and swords coming out of his arms? That was just overkill! Plus I didn't like how the movie turned out. While it was fairly true to the comics, I didn't like the fact that so many people were dying, and others were just background characters. (Though that's probably not a good estimation of things) So, in this, I have basically turned Shinji into a teenage badass where he has all the same skills as Wade Wilson, but none of the psychological flaws. Seriously, I thought it was a good idea, especially for what I have planned later on.

Please let me know what you want me to see and who you want me to pair Shinji up with for later on.

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OMAKE 1

"What... how... Are You Trying To Kill Me?" Shinji shouted in panic.

"If I was trying to kill you, I wouldn't have given you Wade's swords." Stryker said as the talkative merc retrieved said weapons. "It was a test, Shinji. And you passed."

"Test? Passed? What for?" Shinji asked, his heartbeat only now starting to slow down.

"There's alot to explain, but first we'll... Wade, what are you doing?" Stryker shouted as the merc moved towards Shinji and wrapped him up in a hug.

"MY SON!" Wade shouted, causing everyone else to become wide-eyed in shock. "I HAVE A SON! And he doesn't even look like me!"


	2. Reunion

_**SHINJI WILSON  
**_by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, or their characters.

Summary: Shinji and Wraith join Logan in getting revenge on Stryker and Victor for what they have done, and their experiments on mutants.

Authors Notes: Warning, I'm changing alot of things by the end of this chapter. Do not expect alot of deaths.

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Chapter 2  
**Reunion**

(6 Years Later, Las Vegas)

Shinji blinked his eyes open and looked around. The ceiling above him familiar this time.

_Another dream._ He thought. _Of the day I joined Team X. The day I became... one of them._

Getting up off the bed he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and groggily stood up. Fetching his shirt and pants he headed to the bathroom where he splashed some cold water over his face to wake himself up.

_I miss Misato's Beer-Wake-Up-Calls_. He thought as he looked himself in the mirror. _Could probably take her out on a date now if I wanted._ he after-thought.

At 21 years of age, Shinji had grown tall, strong and muscular. He wasn't overly muscular like Fred had been, but he wasn't the wimpy little boy he had been when he first arrived. And all thanks to Wade's training.

He smirked slightly, remembering his old sensei. While Wade had been a lunatic, and never stopped talking, (which is something that Shinji liked about him) he had been the best, (and only), combat instructor Shinji had ever had.

There were days when he had missed Wade, ever since he and the others had left Team X.

Shinji dried off his face and headed downstairs. Arriving in the kitchen, he smiled and nodded at John Wraith who was having his morning coffee and reading the newspaper, and the very large Fred Dukes, who was eating yet another large stack of pancakes. His third serving of the day.

"Mornin', Shinji." John said.

"Morning, sir." Shinji said.

"Damn it, Shinji, you ever gonna stop calling me 'sir'?" John asked with a slightly playful and upset tone.

"Sorry. Old habit." he replied and fixed himself his own breakfast.

He was glad it wasn't his day to cook. He just didn't feel like it at times.

John noticed Shinji's rather sullen mood and sparked conversation once again.

"You have that dream again?" the teleporter asked.

"Yeah." the young man said.

"Anything different?"

"No. Always the same. Of the day we met. The day I joined the team." he said as he sat down and started eating his breakfast.

John sighed. It had been within the last year that Shinji started having those dreams. Every week he had them. And every week it was the same. Of course, John and Fred remembered that day very well. It was the day that things had started to change for all of them.

After Logan had left them, back in Africa, and Shinji had literally dropped into their laps, or at least Wade's lap, Stryker had given them a whole new series of missions. Missions that quickly became something less than savory to the group.

They started hunting and capturing _mutants._

While Stryker said that these mutants were dangerous and needed to be contained and killed, there were only a handful of times when it had been necessary. They captured dozens of mutants, all of whom didn't seem that dangerous, or violent. Most of them were scared kids on the run from their own families.

The whole thing eventually became too much for Shinji and the others. Along with John and Fred and Bradley, the Japanese swords master left to find a different life while Wade, Victor and Zero stayed on.

Bradley had gone his own way. Last they had heard, he had taken up a job as a sideshow 'freak'. Shinji, John and Fred had stayed together.

Shinji actually wanted to go back to Japan, see his homeland once again, before the devastation of Second Impact had done so much horrible damage.

And yet for some reason he chose to stay with his teammates, here in America. He didn't know why, but he thought it was for the best. Like there was something else he needed to do before he could go home.

"Oh, shit!" John suddenly said as he stared at the newspaper, breaking Shinji out of his thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Shinji asked.

"Bradley." John said, showing Shinji the paper.

SIDESHOW FREAK MURDERED. That was the headline. It wasn't the front page, but it was there in black and white, and with Bradley's picture to boot.

"Damn." John said with a sigh.

"You think it's them?" Shinji asked. "Stryker?"

"You think it wasn't?" Fred asked as he stuffed another pancake in his mouth.

"No." Shinji and John replied.

"So... what do we do?" Shinji asked. "They found Bradley, they'll find us."

"We left that world behind us, kid. But if they do come... we should be ready." John said.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji finished breakfast and went back to his room. Opening his closet he pulled out a long, black case and set it on his bed.

_I never thought I'd need these again._ Shinji thought as he flipped the latches and opened the lid. Inside the case were a pair of finely polished and very sharp katana swords. Metallic black blades, blue handles with black chord wraps, and silver hand guards with dragons etched into the base of the blade itself.

These swords had been the last gift given to him by Wade Wilson. He smiled, remembering how he had trained with these weapons. Every day he got better. Every day he got stronger, faster, quicker than he had ever been before. The moves and techniques just seemed to flow from Shinji as if he had practiced them all his life. Learning from Wade, was like relearning everything he had already been taught. Second nature, instinct, whatever you wanted to call it. Shinji had a talent for this, and it scared him as to where he had acquired this knowledge, because he had never had it before.

But once they were in the field, out on missions, Shinji proved to be every bit the warrior that Wade was. Though, Wade would never call himself that, Shinji actually remembered how he had smiled at the compliment.

Picking up the swords in both hands, Shinji spun them around a few times, getting used to the feel of them again.

"I don't know what's going to happen... but I know... I'm not ready to die just yet. Boys..." he said to the swords. "...I need your help. You take care of me and I'll take care of you."

And with that, Shinji began practicing once again.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Nine days after reading about Bradley's death, Shinji and John were treated to the sight of James Logan walking into John's slightly cluttered, desert-motif office that overlooked the gym where a dozen guys were currently training. He was decked out in a pair of cowboy boots, jeans, plaid shirt and a brown leather jacket with three stripes (more like rings) on both of his arms. His hair was brown and shaggy but well-kept, a beard forming around the edges of his face.

"Logan." the dark-skinned, cowboy-hat wearing teleporter said.

"John." the razor-clawed, hyper-senses healer said in response.

"Like you to meet Shinji." John said, introducing the young Japanese man. "He joined us shortly after you left."

"Sir." Shinji said to him, holding out his hand to him.

Logan shook the young man's hand, though Shinji didn't say much else after that.

"So what brings you here?" John asked.

"A lot of bad stuff." Logan said as the pair just listened.

After several minutes of story telling, both John and Shinji had disgusted looks on their faces.

"Victor kills your girl, Stryker offers his help, and then Zero tries to kill you on Stryker's orders while taking out a couple of civilians?" John asked, trying to sum up what had happened.

"Yeah." Logan replied with a hiss.

"Damn. I'm sorry man." John said tossing Logan a cold beer.

"What the hell happened to him after I left?" Logan asked.

"He got worse. He felt like you abandoned him. We all did. But Victor, he had to prove he was better than you. Hunting and killing everything he was pointed at. Quit a few months later myself. Couldn't take rounding 'em up." John said, bad memories washing over his face.

However, at hearing that, Logan's interest peaked.

"Rounding who up?" Logan asked.

"Leave it alone, Logan." John said, almost ashamed at the memory.

However, Logan persisted,. "Rounding who up, John?"

Not wanting to talk about it, John got up, turned and walked away from him.

"Hey! Damn It, John!" Logan snapped.

John turned back and huffed before answering. "We hunted our own kind, Logan. There's a special place in hell for the things we did."

"Mutants? Why?" he asked with confusion.

"Stryker said we'd be making a difference. Protecting people from the bad ones." he stated, still with guilt on his face.

"Most of them weren't that bad." Shinji said. "Scared runaway kids, mostly."

Logan, more confused than before, sat himself back down and tried to figure why Stryker would want other mutants if he had mutants on his team.

"I need to find Victor. And Stryker. When I do, I'm gonna take 'em both out!" Logan growled.

"Yeah? Well, Stryker's easy, but how you gonna take Victor down, Logan?" John asked. "Said last time he beat you."

"Remember that stuff in Africa?" he asked the dark-skinned cowboy.

"Yeah, I remember Africa. What about it?" the teleporter asked.

Lifting up his right hand, Logan clenched his fist, as three metal claws popped out from between his knuckles.

John and Shinji gasped at what they were seeing.

"Damn! What'd they do to you, man?" John asked as Logan pulled his claws back into his fist.

"Don't ask." Logan said with an air of dismissal and walked around the room. "Listen, Zero said something about an Island. That mean anything to you?"

"Nope. But maybe Dukes knows. Him and Zero were real tight." John said.

"Fred Dukes? Where is he?" Logan asked, interested in the possible lead.

"He's here." John answered.

"We'll let's go talk to him." he said, anxiously moving to the man.

"Hold on, Dukes don't get in till around 4:00. But I gotta warn you, he developed a bit of an eating disorder. We all got our coping mechanisms." John said, handing Logan another beer. "Shinji and me been trying to whup him back into shape. Whatever you do, don't mention his weight."

"He's serious, sir." Shinji reiterated. "Don't mention his weight."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

While Logan had been confused and skeptical about just how bad Fred Dukes had gotten, his attitude changed when he actually saw the man in question.

"Come on, Fred, you wanna get in shape you gotta move, man. I told him he's gotta move. He's gotta move." John said, shouting at Fred and talking to Logan at the same time, while a man in the ring was punching a much larger man repeatedly.

WHAM!

"Look out!" John shouted, Shinji pulling Logan down as the man flew out of the ring and over the pair, slamming into a small stand-up billboard and knocking it back, but not over.

"What? Whoa!" Logan gasped as he was forced to duck.

Standing up the trio looked at the ring and the large man inside it.

"Fred Dukes? That looks like the creature that ate Fred Dukes." Logan said, staring in shock at the 500 lbs. man standing in the ring, sucking on the straw of a large Super Gulper cherry slushie.

"Hey, be nice man." John said.

Logan shook the shock out of his face and started towards the ring. "Hey, fat... Fred! I seem to remember that girl when she was about 85 pounds, huh?" he said, opening with a joke.

Dukes looked at his tattoo, which had indeed expanded from the sexy young image it had been six years ago. "Oh, that's funny. You're still so funny, Logan."

"You know where Victor is?" he asked.

"No idea." Fred quickly replied.

"What's The Island, slim?" Logan pressed.

The large man paused for a couple seconds, as if knowing where this was going.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Logan." Fred stated, turning around as if finishing the conversation.

However, Logan wasn't having any of that. "Listen, I ain't leaving here till you tell me where Victor is. So come on, bub, for old time's sake, huh?" he said as he jumped up on the ring, hanging off the ropes for support.

Fred paused and turned around to glare at Logan, an angry look on his face. "Did you just call me...Blob?" he asked.

Logan's face flashed with confusion, knowing his own words. "No, but..."

With a roar, Fred charged towards Logan, the large man slamming into the razor-clawed mutant and propelling him away like he had been shot out of a cannon. Shinji ducked and John teleported out of the line of fire as Logan slammed into the stand-up poster billiard, knocking it and the man who had been tossed from the ring earlier, down.

John teleported right in front of Logan as the Canadian mutant tried to stand up. "I told you not to mention his weight. Why'd you call him 'Blob'?" John asked.

"I didn't call him 'Blob', I said 'Bub'! God Damn It!" Logan cursed as he stood up and stripped off his jacket.

However, desperate to avoid a fight, and the intended bloodshed, John held up his hand. "Hey, hey, hey. Hey, Logan. I got an idea."

A minute later, Logan was handed a pair of gloves from Shinji. "This is your idea of an idea?" Logan asked John.

"I'm trying to help you out, Logan. Duke's don't like you that much and you know it." John said.

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual." Logan said as he put the gloves on.

"Well, use them gloves, man. Dance with him a little bit. Allow him to let his anger out on you. Figure you do that he'll probably tell you everything you want t_o_ know." the dark-skinned man said with a smile.

However, looking at the very large man on the other side of the ring, Logan remained unconvinced. "Come on, man, look at him. Got a big old ass coming out the front of his shirt. Jesus, he's gonna have a coronary, for Christ''s sake. Is there even a stretcher big enough to carry this guy out of here?

John tapped the bell with a small hammer. But as Logan turned around, Fred punched Logan in the face.

"Oh!" Logan gasped, nearly thrown over the ring by the blow.

"It ain't him I'm worried about getting outta here on a stretcher." John said with a small laugh.

"You're an asshole." Logan moaned as he stood back up and turned to face Fred.

"Come on, Logan!" Fred taunted him, hopping around in the ring. (Rather amazing for a guy as big as him)

"Whup his ass!" John said, seeming to cheer on one or the other.

"You want it?" Logan asked, before lashing out at Fred's enormous gut, which only caused his body to ripple slightly.

"Dance with him, Fred. Just like I taught you." John cheered from the sidelines.

"What's that? You wanna dance with me?" Fred asked as Logan continued punching.

"Come on, Fred!" John continued cheering, even as Shinji just rolled his eyes at the spectacle.

"Oh! Oh, that feels good." Fred continued to taunt as Logan landed another series of punches.

However, while Logan's blows were hardly having any effect on him, Fred was actually enjoying it.

"Hey! Guess what?" Fred asked before lashing out with a punch that knocked Logan onto his face.

Logan's face and body hit the floor, looking up he saw John standing outside the ring, eye-to-eye with him.

"See, he gonna talk now. You got him right where you want him." John said with a smile.

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Logan asked as he picked himself back up.

"Come on! Come on, now, lamb chop!" Fred taunted again, jumping up and down, which was a real improvement for him.

Fred swung and missed Logan twice before Logan started moving around him, throwing blows left and right to his exposed gut and back.

However, as Logan maneuvered in front of him, Dukes lashed out with a punch that tossed Logan into the air, twirled him about, and dropped him onto his back.

But as he tried to get back up, Fred grabbed Logan by the shoulders, spun him around, and slammed his forehead into Logan's forehead.

A resounding 'Clang' was heard by both John and Shinji.

"Oh." Fred groaned, suddenly disoriented by the impact.

"Uh." Logan gasped, twisting his head as if to get a kink out of his neck.

"Damn!" John said after hearing the loud clang of metal.

Shinji could only agree.

Logan recovered quickly, jumping up on one of the corner poles, and leapt off it right towards Fred. He pushed his elbow forward and slammed it into Fred's head, disorienting him and causing him to fall backwards. Like a freshly cut tree. The impact shook the ground, causing the two men outside the ring to momentarily lose their balance. But once Fred was down, Logan was on him in a second.

"Now... where's Victor?" Logan asked, his claws popping out of his gloves and aimed right as Fred's face.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It took a few minutes to get Dukes to clear his head and get his bearings. By then he had propped himself up against one of the corner poles, all while Logan was smacking him in the face in order to get him to talk.

"Hey, hey! Where's Victor?" Logan repeated.

"Victor's... with Stryker... on the island. They-they-they run it together." Fred stuttered as he focused on Logan.

"What? They what? Victor will be with Stryker?" the naturally confused Logan asked.

"Yeah. You didn't know that?" Fred said, almost like it was common knowledge.

Shocked at what he had just heard, Logan stood up, angrily and anxiously pacing around the ring. Shuddering in revulsion and upset at hearing that.

"What's the island?" Logan asked after taking several deep breaths to calm himself.

"It's where Stryker takes them after Victor's caught them." Fred said, slightly stuttering as he answered.

"Wait, hang on a minute. Takes who?" Logan asked, eyes closed in frustration and angst.

"Mutants. Rumor is that Stryker's doing experiments on them there." Fred answered.

He turned his head as he looked at the stunned expressions on John's and Shinji's faces.

"I mean, you never wondered what happened to them?" the large man asked the pair.

"I tried not to." John said, looking down as if in shame. Shinji just turned his head to the side doing the same.

Logan, for his part, looked like he had just seen Kayla die all over again. He looked down at his fists, the life seeming to drain out of him as he realized the sad and devastating truth. "They killed her so that I'd let them put Adamantium in me." Logan said. "They killed her for a goddamn experiment."

Anger suddenly filled Logan as he spun around and lunged at Fred. "Where is it? Where?" he shouted, getting in Fred's face.

"Logan, Stryker kept it real secret." Fred stated.

Unconvinced by that answer, Logans claws slid out of his hand, aimed directly at Freds face.

"But... a prisoner escaped there once." Fred stated, his eyes filled with fear.

"Who?" Logan asked harshly.

"His name was Remy LeBeau. He was a street hustler from New Orleans. The guards at the prison kept calling him Gambit because he kept taking all their money at poker." he answered quickly.

"What's Stryker up to, Fred, what's the end game?" John asked.

"He's... taking their powers. Trying to combine them somehow." he said to John before turning back to Logan. "That's all I know, Logan. That's all I know."

"If I have to come back here, I'm gonna take your head off." Logan said in a dark tone before getting up, jumping out of the ring, and grabbed his jacket.

"I'm coming with you, Logan!" John said, teleporting from the ring to Logan's side.

"Me too!" Shinji said, his hand touching Fred's shoulder momentarily before he too jumped out of the ring to catch up with the departing pair.

"There's no redemption where I'm going." Logan stated.

"I ain't asking." John said.

"Agreed." Shinji stated.

With that the trio headed out towards New Orleans.

However, as they left, Fred felt himself, his entire body, tingle in a way he had never felt before.

_Oh, god! I think I'm gonna be sick!_ Fred thought before the sudden changes really took place.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The trip from Las Vegas to New Orleans was a long one, taking nearly a day. Mostly considering that Logan and John were riding motorcycles, and Shinji was with John on his bike.

The trio eventually made it to the city, down to Rue Bourbon where John led them into the club where Remy Lebeau was said to 'frequent'.

Walking into the club, the cool flowing music of Blues and Jazz wafting around them, the trio of unlikely, and even reunited, allies walked through the club to locate their only lead to The Island. John was dressed in his cowboy hat, wide sunglasses, snake-skin leather coat, orange cowboy outfit and black boots. Shinji was dressed in a long black trenchcoat that managed to hide his swords well enough, a pair of blue jeans, blue sleeveless shirt, and commando-style black boots. Logan himself was dressed as he had been when he arrived in Vegas.

The three themselves looked nothing unusual, save for John and his cowboy hat, but they soon found the man they were looking for.

"There's our dude." John said to Logan and Shinji, pointing to a man who was juggling a dozen cards at once. He flipped another card in the air, the card landing perfectly into his other hand where the rest of his chosen cards were sitting comfortably. "That's cool." John said, impressed.

However, Logan thought it was nothing but a show-off maneuver, and thusly was not impressed.

"Shinji and me'll go cover the back, in case he rabbits." John said.

"I'm not gonna fight with him, I'm just gonna talk." Logan stated.

"Yeah, right." John said with a smirk and amused laugh.

"What? I get into fights with everyone?" he asked.

"Don't dogs kill cats?" the dark-skinned man joked.

"Just go and cover the back, will ya?" Logan snapped at John, with a smile.

John and Shinji headed out the back way to the club, ending up on a fire-escape which overlooked a back alley. Taking off his glasses and looking around the empty alley, a clinking bottle caught John's attention, and he turned to notice a familiar shadow walk down a small side alley at the end of the large one they were in.

"You see something?" Shinji asked, looking over and just missing the dark shape move away.

"Yeah. If I'm not back in a minute, come look for me." John said, teleporting away.

Arriving in the side alley, John looked around, scanning the narrow corridors of the alley and seeing nothing.

"You my brother's new babysitter, John?" a deep, menacing voice said as John sucked in a breath of air and turned around.

"I ain't Bradley, Victor. And your creepy black coat don't scare me." John said, putting his bravado forward.

"Really? Worked on Dukes." Victor said with a sadistic grin.

PUNCH! Victor's head jerked back at John's punch, but he kept his footing.

John teleported behind him. "Shouldn't have done that. Now I'm gonna kill you, 'fore Logan even gets the chance." he said, teleporting around the feral man and lashing out with punch after punch.

However, Victor was not impressed, or deterred.

"You know, John, there's something I've always wanted to say to you." Victor grinned as John quickly teleported again.

PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH!

However, on his third teleport, Victor made his move, spinning around and lashing out to grab John, catching him right in his gut.

"You're predictable." Victor said with a grin.

Johns face was racked with shock and pain, as he tried to teleport away, only to realize that he couldn't, because Victor now had a firm grip on him.

"Oh. I can feel your spine, Johnny-boy. That's funny. Didn't know you had one." Victor laughed and prepared to end it.

Suddenly, a pair of metal swords lanced into Victor's back, impaling him and causing him to cry out. Mostly since the blades had pierced his heart and left lung.

"Argh!" Victor cried out, releasing John and allowing him to teleport away, stumbling against the nearby wall as soon as he reappeared.

With John out of harm's way, Shinji kicked Victor in the back, pushing him forward as he spun his swords around, placing himself between the dark and vicious man and the dark-skinned cowboy. Victor turned and looked back to see a very familiar Japanese man, dressed in a blue shirt, black pants and boots, holding a pair of very familiar swords.

"Well, well, well. Wade Jr." Victor grinned, the wounds from the his chest healing even now.

"Mr. Creed." Shinji said with a bow. He looked back to John, who tried to stand himself up. "Wraith, are you alright?"

"Yeah... I'm... I'm good." John breathed heavy, regaining his momentum and footing.

"Oh... I doubt that. Still... it's good to see you guys. Now I get to kill you myself." Victor said.

"Oh... I doubt that." Shinji said as he gripped his swords.

However, before the pair of mutants could get into anything, the wall down the alleyway exploded outwards and a human-shaped figure crashed hard into the alleyway.

Everyone looked over and gasped when they realized it was Logan.

"Oh, Damn it! Son of a..." Logan growled as he paused and noticed Victor was standing at the end of the alleyway, while Shinji was standing between him and an injured looking John Wraith. "Victor!" Logan shouted.

"Jimmy." Victor muttered under his breath.

Just then, someone else jumped out of the hole Logan had made, walking up to Logan. He was a young man with long almost scraggly hair, dressed in a short overcoat, black pants and boots.

"I spent two years rotting in that hellhole and I ain't going.." Remy Lebeau said before...

WHACK!

Logan's elbow lashed out, striking the man in the face and knocking him down.

SNIKT.

"Oh! Shiny." Victor laughed. "Tell me something, Jimmy. Do you even know how to kill me?"

"I'm gonna cut your damn head off. See if that works." Logan said with a sneer.

Shinji and John looked on as Victor and Logan ran for each other. Victor jumped down on all fours and ran at Logan like he was some kind of animal. Logan growled as he suddenly dropped to the ground, sliding all the way until he kicked Victor into the air, tossing him into a garbage dumpster.

"You're getting slow, old man." Logan said as Victor got back up and attacked.

Logan lashed out with his claws, impaling Victor's hand with his blades, thrusting the hand into Victor's chest. Growling again, he pushed Victor back against the dumpster, bringing up his other claw, level to Victor's face.

"You son of a bitch! You're gonna die for what you did to her!"

However, while Logan was on the verge of killing Victor, Shinji's eyes turned upwards as a flying figure flew in from the opposite roof, and slam into the ground. Shinji was the first to see him, but too late to warn Logan about it, the entire alleyway exploding all around them, sending the trio flying this way and that.

As the dust and debris settled, Shinji saw Victor make a run for it as Logan and the newcomer with the stick started duking it out.

"Never gets into fights with everyone. Yeah, right." John wheezed as the pair started tearing things up. "Well, that was fun." he groaned as he strained to stand up. "But I'm gonna need to see a chiropractor when this is over. Hey, Shinji."

"Yes?" the sword-wielding mutant asked, intently watching the fight between Logan and Remy.

"Thanks. For... saving my spine." John said.

Shinji turned back and looked at him. "You'd have done the same for me." he said.

"Yeah... but I'd probably get killed doing it." John said with a smirk.

Suddenly, the fire escape crashed to the ground, and the pair saw Logan pull the young man he had been fighting out of the metal debris and against the wall next to them.

"Listen up, shithead! You're gonna take me to the Island, where I'm gonna kill Creed, Stryker and pretty much everyone you hate, got it?" Logan growled at the man.

"You're really gonna kill them, aren't you?" Lebeau asked.

"What do you think?" he huffed, pushing the young man roughly against the wall.

As the quartet made their way out of the alley, they were greeted to another surprise visitor.

"Guess I'm late for the party." the large man said, looking around the damaged alley.

Shinji, John and Logan all gasped when they saw him.

It was Fred Dukes, minus about 250 pounds of extra body fat. Standing before them, decked out in a pair of jeans, boots, gray shirt and dark green cargo vest with pockets. The tattoo of the girl on his left shoulder looking as slim as she did when he got it. In fact, Dukes looked the same as he did six years ago back when Team X was formed.

"Fred?" Shinji gasped at seeing the man.

"What happened? Where's the rest of you?" Logan asked.

"I have absolutely no idea. But you know, I ain't complain'." Fred said.

"I thought Victor killed you." John gasped at seeing his old friend.

"Victor? He never came to see me." Fred said. "Hadn't seen him since we left Stryker."

John scoffed. "He lied to me to get me pissed off." he said with a huff. "He's right. I am predictable."

"This doesn't make any sense." Logan huffed. "But we can discuss it later. Let's just get to the Island."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The seaplane was flying towards the Island, and with five mutants aboard it was a tight fit and fairly slow going.

"How the hell did this happen, though?" John asked.

"I have no idea. I started feelin' weird when you guys left. Next thing I know, my whole body starts shrinking, my muscles got tighter and I feel like I gotta empty my stomach again and again. Just so you know... the ring's probably gonna need to be cleaned."

"Oh, god, that's it, I quit!" John said. "Gonna have to burn the place down. Start all over." John groaned in disgust, which only made his injuries feel worse.

"And you're sure nothing else happened?" Shinji asked.

"No. Just... you patted me on the shoulder before you left." Fred said. "Next thing I know... I've lost 250 pounds in less than a day. It... wasn't a nice feeling."

"I'll bet." John said.

Of course, Shinji and the others had no way of knowing that Shinji's Angelic DNA, coupled with his duel mutation, had inadvertently given him the ability to rebuild and rewrite a person's genetics, back to what it originally was. It's peak efficiency. However, Shinji could only do this a handful of times, and only under specific conditions, such as his own mentality taking pity on someone like Dukes, his physical contact with Dukes, and the fact that he wouldn't be able to do this until his body recharged his Angelic aura. Which would take at least five to six more years. It was something that Stryker had missed initially, since the Angelic aura that was in Shinji needed time to reach it's peak.

Farfetched, yes. But something that no one would ever be able to explain or understand or think of. A mystery that would never be solved, and thus counted as a kind of miracle, if nothing else.

"You don't like flying that much do you?" Remy asked Logan, noticing he was clinging tightly to the strap next to his seat.

"I'm fine." Logan nervously huffed.

"You sure? You got a little sweat on your brow there." he teased the razor-clawed mutant, actually enjoying his anxiety.

"I'm fine! Would you just watch the..."

"Watch the what? The clouds?"

"You're jumping up and down like a freaking yo-yo! Where did you get this thing?"

"Oh, this is my baby, I won her in a game. Jacks over Fives." Remy said with a smile.

"Great." Logan groaned.

"Be alot easier if we weren't hauling so much weight. But, you insisted on bringing them." he said, pointing back to the three mutants who were sitting squashed in the back of the plane. "You're lucky we're getting there at all." he said, looking at the fuel gauge.

"Are we there yet?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. Almost there." Remy said.

Within a few minutes, the seaplane was flying over their intended target.

"There it is! The Island. Three-Mile Island. Hiding in plain sight. No one's gonna go snooping around a nuclear reactor. They think it'll turn them into freaks." Remy stated to the man next to him.

"Like you?" Logan retorted.

"Right." Remy replied. "Alright. Time to go!"

"About time." Logan said as he unbuckled himself and made for the door.

"You're gonna jump?" the card player asked.

"Yeah." the Canadian mutant responded.

"I'll get my own way out." John said as he suddenly vanished from the plane.

Knowing he was too injured from his last sortie with Victor, Shinji was rather surprised that John had teleported out so quickly. But then again, going out 'their way' was not really an option.

With John gone, Logan had a straight shot towards the door. Shinji was first, though, followed by Dukes. The pair's enhanced physicality ensuring their survival. Before he jumped, Logan turned back to Remy.

"If it's any consolation, this is gonna hurt like hell." Logan said.

"Yeah. It kinda does." Remy said with a huge grin.

"Good luck!" Logan said with a small nod.

"You too!" Remy replied.

With that, Logan followed his teammates out.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Authors Notes:

Not something I can overly comment about, but this chapter was intended to be shorter. I actually came up with alot of things here that were not in the original idea, such as Fred losing alot of weight and then tracking down Logan and the others. There wasn't much in this chapter for Shinji to do, other than save John from being killed by Victor. Which was his major scene. Also, I know that it's silly for Fred's sudden transformation and weight loss, but I wanted to include him in this story. But there was no way a huge guy like him would have fit on Remy's plane, or on one of the motorcycles. While this will change things, it's also one of the reasons that I wanted to write this story. The simple fact that ALOT of people just keep dying or stop existing. Unique people. So... I bring them back with all the skills and abilities and even former appearance that they had before. It's pretty radical, I admit, but it's my story so I hope people enjoy it.

Oh, and just so everyone knows... Shinji's swords look exactly like Wades swords, but are made from adamantium. After Logan left and Shinji was recruited by Team X, he spent about two and a half years with them before he, John, Fred and Bradley left. Stryker creating the swords for Wade and Shinji were a first test of his ability to manipulate the Adamantium.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OMAKE!

"What are we doing here?" Hikari asked.

"All in good time. Zero?" Misato said to the blue haired girl.

Rei steps up to the gate and fence, as two dozen men train their guns on her.

"Intruder! Put your hands behind your head!"

Rei goes, and pulls the two Beretta handguns out from behind her back, and shoots down ten of the guards with ease. The other men start shooting, but Rei runs along the ground, dodging their gunfire and jumping into the air, reloading her guns with new clips quickly, and shooting the last men who were standing in their way with superhuman accuracy.

"Having fun yet?" Asuka asked Hikari with a feral sneer, before running towards the tall building and scaling it with ease.

"Toji?" Misato said.

"The Tank?" Toji asked.

"The Tank."

"Yeah, I got that."

Toji walked up to the large, heavily armored tank, and punched its cannon in the mouth, right as the tank gunner fired. The shell hit Toji's hand, the explosion backlashed into the tank itself, destroying it. Toji pulled his hand out, revealing no damage.

Rei and Asuka waited outside while the rest of the team gets on the elevator, only to be stopped by the man on the top floor. Green dim lights flooding the room instead of the normal white and bright ones.

"Great. Stuck in an elevator with five people on a high-protein diet." Mari said.

"Mari!" Misato chided.

"Dreams really do come true."

"Just shut it! You're up next."

"Thank you, ma'am. You look really nice today. It's the green. Brings out the seriousness in your eyes."

"Oh, god, girl! Do you ever shut up?" Hikari asked.

"No. Not when I'm awake." Mari said simply.

"Kensuke? Top floor, please." Misato said.

Kensuke nodded and put his fingers to his head, the elevator lights brightening and the car moving once again.

Once they reached the top floor, Mari flexed her fingers in anticipation. A strange calmness overtaking her.

"Time to go to work." Mari said.

The door opened, the gunmen opened fire, and Mari opened up her lethal saber skills upon them. With lightning fast and superhuman reflexes, Mari deflected every bullet right back into her assailants, killing them all within a matter of seconds. The last two men, at the far end up the room, opened fire on her, even as she charged towards them, flew through the air, and came down, impaling the last two gunmen.

"Okay. People are dead!" Mari said after pulling back her swords.

"If you didn't have that mouth on you, Mari, you'd be the perfect soldier." Misato said.

The man moves up to pull the gun he had hidden underneath the desk, only to have Shinji teleport in behind him, his machine gun raised up at the man's head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Shinji said calmly as the man raised his hands up.


	3. Team X Returns

_**SHINJI WILSON  
**_by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Summary: Shinji and his teammates infiltrate The Island, where they force a final confrontation with Stryker and his lethal agents, including the inhuman Deadpool, and gaining new allies along the way.

Authors Notes: I've taken a few liberties with the timing in this chapter, so please don't be upset with how I've arranged these scenes. Particularly with how Shinji is jumping from battle to battle with ease.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Chapter 3  
**Team X Returns**

Logan, Shinji, John and Fred made their way through the large nuclear complex, passing through several rooms where some people were working, and others were being held. They headed towards the main lab where Col. William Stryker and Dr. Carol Frost were putting the final touches on Weapon XI.

As the quartet entered the lab, Logan was in the lead. Shinji on his right. John on his left. Fred right behind him.

Their presence alone was enough to alert the hairs on the back of Stryker's neck.

He gasped when he looked up and saw the quartet. While he had only been expecting Logan, he was rather shocked to see the others. A fact that he hid well.

"Well, well, well. Looks like someone has been getting the band back together." Stryker said, trying to be humorous.

"You look surprised to see us." John said.

"I am, actually. I should have figured that it would take more than one of you to defeat Victor." Stryker admitted.

"Actually, it just took Logan." Shinji said.

"The rest of us came along for the ride." Fred said.

"Where's Victor?" Logan asked with fuming anger in his voice.

"He's here." Shinji said.

"And how would you know that?" Stryker asked.

"I can smell the blood on him." Shinji said.

From the shadows, Victor actually grinned.

"Seriously? You can smell the blood on him?" John asked.

"Either that or he doesn't shower anymore." Shinji said with a smile.

Ignoring the jokes, Logan glared at Stryker.

"Before I gut you, I wanna know why!" Logan growled at Stryker.

"I needed your powers for the Pool." Stryker answered simply.

"The what?" Logan asked.

"The mutant killer. Deadpool. Years of research and refining, trying to find the right combination of powers that could co-exist in one body, without tearing it apart."

"And you got everyone's powers, 'cept mine." John said.

"Actually, we still had you on file. You remember those blood tests all those years ago?" Stryker asked.

"Oh, shit!" he gasped.

"Not as potent as a fresh blood sample, but still viable." Stryker said.

"So the rumors were true. You were kidnapping mutants just to steal their powers." Shinji said.

"To create a weapon... to kill us all." John said.

"And we helped you." Fred said.

"Yes. My son was the first piece of the puzzle." he said, staring particularly at Logan. "Logan, you were the last. You made Weapon XI possible. I asked you for your help, but you said you wanted the quiet life. Well, I've learned that nothing motivates the men in your family quite like revenge."

Shinji suddenly turned his head to the side, now noticing a raven-haired woman standing nearby them.

"Who are you?" Shinji asked, looking directly at the woman.

When Logan turned and looked, he gasped when he saw Kayla Silverfox standing there, alive and like she had never been touched.

Logan gasped, shocked and stunned, as if he was looking at a ghost.

"What... who... who are you?" Logan gasped.

"Oh, she's real, old friend." Stryker said.

Logan groaned, kneeling to the ground, as if he was having stomach pains. Shinji and the others did not move.

"You think we'd just let you walk away? You're a dangerous man, Logan. We like to keep an eye on dangerous men." Stryker said, turning to Kayla. "Tell him about the day you died."

"They gave me a shot of hydrochlorothiazide. It reduces the heart rate so low it appears you flatlined. It was meant to look like Victor killed me." she explained.

"Don't be angry with her. She's a real credit to your species." Stryker said.

"What?" Logan gasped, the others looking at Kayla in mild surprise.

"Did you know that her sister has diamond-hard skin? Quite beautiful, really. Kayla's mutation is tactohypnosis. She can influence people as long as she touches them. Quite a useful tool in a seduction. It was never real, my friend."

Kayla moved towards them, but Stryker pulled back his coat, revealing his gun.

At seeing this, Shinji nudged John's elbow, causing the dark-skinned cowboy to vanish as Shinji leapt towards Stryker, who turned towards Shinji and went for his gun, only to have someone appear next to him, and yank the gun out of his holster, the barrel pressed up against his temple.

"Don't move." John said as Shinji moved in and grabbed Stryker by the collar, pulling him forward.

"Tell us the truth, Colonel." Shinji said, lifting the man off his toes. "You really were planning on killing us. Wiping us all out. But you couldn't do it by yourself. You needed us, to kill us."

"To kill the bad ones!" Stryker said. "The real threats to everyone!"

"NO! I Don't Believe That!" Shinji shouted, shaking Stryker in anger. "You lied to us, manipulated us, sent us to hunt our own kind, even killed us! And if that wasn't enough... you took our powers... why? Why do you hate us so much?"

"You wouldn't understand!" Stryker said.

Shinji turned to Kayla.

"Make him tell us the truth!" Shinji ordered her.

Kayla moved towards Stryker, the man struggling in Shinji's grip as Kayla placed her hand on his neck.

"Tell us the truth." Kayla said. "Do you hate mutants?"

"Y...yes." Stryker said, struggling to resist Kayla's mutant powers.

"Why?" Shinji asked.

"My son... is a mutant. Created illusions, that made my wife... kill herself. It became... personal... for me. I knew that there couldn't just be... one kind of mutant out there. There... had to be... others. When his powers first manifested... I took my son... to get help. Went to... Charles... Xavier before my wife... killed herself. But he couldn't... cure my son. So... I did what any military officer would do. I studied them. Watched them. Analyzed them. Until I came up with the perfect plan. Mutants... all of them... they had powers and abilities that I couldn't fight... conventionally. So I decided to use mutants... to kill mutants. I used government resources and connections... to assemble a team... under my control. Mutants with special gifts. Like Wade... Zero... Bradley... Dukes... Wraith... Victor... and Logan. Steps in the process... to creating the perfect weapon."

"And were you planning on using this... Deadpool... on everyone? Even Victor?" Shinji asked.

"Yes." Stryker said.

Nearby, still crouched low in the shadows, Victor was listening to all of this. His mouth turning into a snarl as Stryker confessed.

"Logan was the last step, you said. You pumped Adamantium into him, to make him indestructible! Were you planning on doing this to anyone else? Victor, perhaps?" Shinji asked.

"No. Logan... barely survived. Victor... his regeneration powers... they're not as strong. He would die. And I would lose my favorite... pawn." Stryker said.

"Pawn. Yeah, I guess that sounds about right." Shinji said as he pulled Stryker away from Kayla, pulled back and punched him in the mouth, sending him flying and slamming up against the nearby wall. He slumped to the ground and sat there, unconscious.

"Nice punch." Fred said casually.

"Thanks." Shinji said, turning to Kayla. "And you... why were you helping Stryker?"

"They have my sister. Stryker said that if I did this, all of this... he'd let her go."

The mutants looked at each other in mild shock.

"And you trusted him?" John asked.

"What choice did I have?" Kayla asked.

"By yourself? None. But you have us now." Shinji said.

Logan, Fred, John and Kayla, and even Victor, looked at Shinji in confusion.

"What?" Kayla asked.

"We're going to free the mutants that we helped capture. The ones that are still here." Shinji said.

"Can't let you do that." Victor said as he landed in the middle of the group, knocking Shinji and Wraith away and grabbing Kayla by the throat. "Time for you to die!"

"VICTOR!" Logan shouted, springing instantly from his crouched position as his claws sprang out and he jumped at his brother.

Victor tossed Kayla away as Logan tackled him to the ground. The pair scrambled to their feet where Victor lashed out first, only to have his strikes blocked by Logan, who slashed him across the face and then pierced him in the chest, knocking him down. Victor slashed at Logan's face, then grabbed him by the head to flip him over his body and onto the floor. But Logan rolled onto his feet and pulled Victor back up with him. He punched and slashed Victor again and again, swinging low in order to knock him off his feet and onto his back.

Logan growled again as he rushed towards Victor, kicking him away and towards the glass wall that overlooked the holding cells for the mutant prisoners. Victor forced himself to stand up, even as Logan rushed him again, impaling Victor in the stomach and knocking him back through the glass wall and down, down nearly two stories, until they fell onto a metal platform at the bottom of the open room. Logan was on top and recovered quickly as he pulled his metal claws out of Victor.

Victor shouted in pain as Logan pointed his right hand claws directly under Victor's throat, as if ready to push his claws straight up into Victor's head.

However, Victor only laughed.

"Feels good, doesn't it? All that rage?" Victor chuckled. "Do it!"

"LOGAN!"

The man looked up at Kayla.

"You're not an animal." she shouted.

"Oh, yes, you are." Victor hissed. "Do it. Finish it!"

"Come on!" Shinji shouted as he leapt out of the window, falling two stories and landing easily on the ground a couple meters from where Logan and Victor were.

"Don't Logan." Shinji said as John appeared right next to him. "If you kill him like this, you'll be exactly like him. And that's what he wants. That's why he threatened Kayla. To push you."

"He's right, Logan." John said. "Victor, Stryker, they've been playing us like puppets. Getting us to do what they want us to do. We gotta end it, but not like this."

Logan stared at the pair for the longest time. Stared at them and then back at Victor.

Logan retracted his claws... and punched Victor hard in the face. He was out cold.

Getting off of Victor, Logan looked over and saw Kayla and Fred coming down the stairs to where the three of them were.

"I'm sorry about this. But I didn't trick you into loving me. It was real for me too." Kayla said.

"Why should I believe you?" Logan asked.

"Because they have my sister. I'm so sorry. Please, they have my sister." she said, crying the whole time, her voice about to break.

Logan looked back at Shinji, John and Fred, searching for some help. They all looked back at him as if expecting him to make a choice. He then looked back at Kayla.

"Where is she?" Logan asked.

Running towards the holding cells, the group easily got past the gate, and into the containment area where dozens of cages were, all with a single mutant inside it.

"Oh, my god!" John gasped when he saw them.

Nearly two dozen mutants, all with special powers and abilities, some of their features less than human. Some acted normal, but others, like the boy who became a living whirlwind, the boy who was tied up with rubber chords to keep him from moving too much, a boy with lizard like features and even a tongue, and a girl who was surrounded by ice all over her cage, really stuck out.

"It's worse than I imagined." Shinji said.

"And exactly what I expected." Fred said.

Logan grimaced as he extended his claws and started slashing at the cell doors, the locks in particular as he ran down the middle of the row of cages, freeing everyone.

He turned back to see Kayla locating one girl in particular, a younger girl with blond hair, who looked just as happy to see Kayla as Kayla was to see her. Shinji, John and Fred followed up through the group, locating Logan and trying to herd the kids out of a rear entrance.

However, it was during all of this, that Stryker had recovered and moved to the female doctor that had been working on Weapon XI.

"Activate Weapon XI!" Stryker ordered.

"But the bonding process isn't complete!" Dr. Frost stated.

"Just do it!" he said, desperately.

Back on the ground, the members of Team X were heading out towards a large pair of double doors that led out of the facility itself. Logan, Kayla and Shinji were in the lead as the doors opened up to reveal a single figure standing before them. He was a tall, bald figure, dressed in black shoes and red pants, various lines drawn on his athletic body, which reminded Logan of what they did to him when they infused him with Adamantium. He appeared to have no eyelids, and had no visible mouth. Almost like it had been sealed up.

"Oh my god." Shinji gasped when he saw him. "It can't be."

"What? Who is it?" Logan asked.

"It's... Wade!" Shinji gasped.

Logan extended his claws as Shinji pulled his swords out.

The man just stared at them, unblinking, as a pair of long katana-like blades extended from the knuckles in his hands.

"I'll handle this." Shinji said as he stepped up to his former sensei.

"Right." Logan said with a deep exhale. "Kayla, get these kids out of here." he said to the woman who was behind him.

"Logan?" Kayla asked, questioning his decision to have them leave.

"Find another way out." he said.

Kayla and her sister pushed past the other kids, finding Fred and John at the rear.

"What's going on?" John asked.

"Logan said to find another way out." Kayla said.

"What? Why?" Fred asked.

"They're being attacked by someone named Wade." she explained.

Fred and John looked to each other, shock and horror on their faces, as they spun around and moved to find a new exit.

Shinji stepped up to the man, glaring at him.

"Sensei?" Shinji asked.

"Wade?" Logan asked.

Suddenly, the man leapt forward and attacked, Shinji quickly bringing his swords up to defend himself against Deadpool.

"Sensei! It's Me! Shinji!" the Japanese sword master shouted as he continued to deflect each blade strike with his swords. "Don't You Remember Me?"

Deadpool spun away, flipped into the air and kicked Shinji in the chest, sending him backwards, right as Logan raced up behind him and stabbed him in the back, right between his shoulder blades.

The man twitched and spasmed, obviously feeling pain, his swords still waving around.

"Sensei! You don't have to do this!" Shinji shouted, using his swords to deflect Deadpool's own blades.

"I don't think he's got a choice in this, kid." Logan said, trying to move his blades from Deadpool's shoulders towards the middle of his back, only to see the cutting marks of his claws start to heal up instantly. "You're shitting me!" he gasped.

"Hold Him!" Shinji shouted, a plan instantly forming in his head as Logan rushed up behind him and impaled him in his back, right behind his stomach.

Deadpool shifted and threw his head back, striking Logan in the face, and pushing the adamantium-clawed mutant back away from the mutant killer.

It was in this moment that Shinji made his move, slamming his swords into Deadpool's blades and deflecting them enough to pull his sensei's right blade over to the side, before slashing at the base of the sword (where his knuckles ended and the sword began) several times, causing the sword itself to be cut clean off and fall to the ground.

It was during this, that Shinji failed to notice the thin yellow-orange glow that was surrounding his Adamantium swords as Deadpool brought up his other sword-hand to slash down at Shinji from above. Shinji quickly threw his swords up and blocked the second blade, his swords crossed like an X to catch the single sword at its intersecting point. Shinji quickly slid his swords down to the base of Deadpool's fist, and with some effort, managing to clip the blade like a pair of scissors.

They were fortunate enough that they had arrived before the Adamantium bonding process had been completed, otherwise, they would have never been able to separate the swords from Wade's hands. Even with his low-level AT-Field being unconsciously emitted through his swords. Without those two factors, Shinji never would have been able to remove Wade's swords.

"Nice work!" Logan declared.

"Thanks!" Shinji replied as he kicked Deadpool in the chest, knocking him back into Logan, who then lifted Deadpool off the ground and hurled him off to the side. The mutant killer tumbling around and coming to a stop, but slowly getting back to his feet.

"What's wrong with him?" Shinji asked.

"Stryker's probably messed with his mind. (What there was of it.) He won't listen to anything. He's just gonna keep coming until we're dead." Logan stated.

"There has to be a way to..."

"There ain't! Get out of here!"

"What? Why?"

"Because you don't want to fight him! That'll give him the chance to kill both of us. No offense kid. You got the skill, but you don't have the instinct. Now Go!" Logan ordered.

Shinji looked at the man, almost in a helpless state, before realizing he was right. He turned around and ran back to where John, Fred, Kayla and the others were.

Logan turned back to Deadpool as he stood up and just glared at the razor-clawed mutant.

"You've been declawed, Wade. I think you'd better give..." Logan started to say, only to have him vanish right before his eyes. "What?"

Deadpool appeared behind Logan, grabbing one of his cut-off swords, then teleporting over to where the other one was.

Rearmed, Deadpool stood up and turned to face Logan.

"Great." Logan groaned, realizing now what Stryker had been trying to accomplish.

A mutant killer with the powers of several mutants. And he knew how to use them as well. Or was he actually in control of himself?

It didn't matter as Deadpool quickly moved and attacked Logan.

Logan's claws were out, slashing back and deflecting the swords that Deadpool had in his hands, even kicking down the mutant killer. First in the balls, then in the face, and then in the stomach.

However, Deadpool rolled with the blows, staggered back a bit, and then attacked again.

He flipped over Logan, kicked him in the head, landed behind him, and as Logan spun around, Deadpool jumped into the air and kicked Logan with both feet, sending him out the large double doors and skidding along the ground. Logan rolled backwards, jumping back up to his feet, his claws out, ready to face the mutant killer. Deadpool just glared at Logan and advanced towards him.

"This isn't working. I need some place where he can't jump around." he said as he turned to look at the large and very high cooling tower he was standing in front of.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The second Logan had told him to go, Shinji quickly spun around and ran back to where the others mutants were. Seeing that they were pinned down by gunfire from a group of soldiers on the upper level that over looked the holding cells, Shinji leapt through the air, over the gate itself, and landed right between the soldiers and the escaping mutants. Kayla's sister Emma had turned her skin into diamonds and blocked as many of the bullets as she could. Having landed in front of them, Shinji quickly spun his swords around at incredible speeds, deflecting as many bullets as were shot at him.

Some of the kids who saw this gasped at Shinji's sword skills.

Fred had grabbed a large steel plate and was using it to deflect and cover the other mutants. John winced as he held his arm, a small patch of blood on it.

"You okay?" Fred asked.

"Just a scratch, man!" John said, still holding his arm.

"I can help! Let me at them!" a boy with a metal visor over his face said.

"Gonna get your chance, son." John said as he teleported next to the boy, grabbed him, and quickly teleported both of them away, and right behind the soldiers on the upper tier. "Right behind 'em. Now!" John said. The soldiers turned around as the boy took off his visor, bright red energy exploding from both eyes and slamming into the armed men, blasting them and knocking them away. A couple of the men flew out over the prisoner holding area and crashed down into two of the cages that had been holding the mutants.

"Did I get them?" the boy asked as he pulled his visor over his eyes once more.

"Yeah." John said, grabbing the boy and teleporting him back to the others on the ground. "What's your name, son?"

"Summers. Scott Summers." the boy said.

"Alright, let's get these kids out of here." Shinji said.

"Let's go." Emma said to her sister.

"I can't go." Kayla gasped.

"Kayla, come on!"

"I have to stay. You get them out of here." Kayla said.

However, it was Shinji that noticed something off about Kayla.

"You're bleeding!" Shinji said, crouching to her side where a spot of blood on the right side of her stomach was growing larger by the second.

"What?" Emma gasped.

"Uh!" Kayla hissed in pain. "I'm fine."

"Not really." Shinji said as he picked her up in his arms. "I'll take care of her, you guys get these other kids out of here." Shinji said to John and Fred.

"Alright." John said as he and Fred started moving the mutant teens out.

"I'm staying!" Emma said.

"Emma!" Kayla protested.

"I'm Staying!" she insisted.

"Discuss this later, we need to get you some help." Shinji said as he lifted Kayla into his arms and hurried out another exit, racing back to the medical facility on the upper level in order to at least find some bandages and antibiotics.

The trio rushed into the medical facility and found one of the doctors still there, hiding out since the firefight.

"You!" Shinji shouted.

"Y-Yes?" Dr. Frost asked.

"We need a doctor!"

"Like Now!" Emma shouted.

The woman doctor quickly took to patching up Kayla. But as she did, Shinji suddenly discovered the nearby cryo-cells and their frozen occupants.

However, the one he was more fixated on was an athletic and attractive Korean woman, who looked a little like Agent Zero, but with longer hair. She was dressed in a gray t-shirt, gray sweat pants and underwear.

Shinji gasped in shock as he activated the cryo-cell's thaw-setting on the device. He grabbed a nearby blanket and waited for the person inside to awaken.

"What the... what are you doing?" Emma asked.

"I know this woman." Shinji said.

"You do?" the blond asked.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because I captured her."

"What?"

"Who is she?" Kayla asked.

"Her name is Diane North. She was Zero's twin sister." Shinji explained.

Suddenly, the cryo-cell dinged (like a microwave) and the door opened.

The woman inside fell forward as Shinji caught her and wrapped her in the blanket.

"D-D-David?" the young woman asked, her head trying to clear itself.

"Your brother is dead. I'm sorry." Shinji said.

"You!" the woman spat as she recognized Shinji.

"I know. I'm sorry." Shinji said as the woman fought to stand on her own.

"Did you kill her brother?" Emma asked.

"No. Logan did, when Stryker sent Zero after him. I'm the one who captured her. Back when I worked for Stryker." Shinji explained.

"Let me go!" the Korean mutant hissed as she tried to push herself away from Shinji.

"Right. Sorry."

"How long have I been... on ice?" she asked.

"Almost four years." Shinji said.

"Wait. You captured her?" Kayla asked, sitting up on the table, Dr. Frost finished with her dressings.

"Yes." Shinji said.

"And she's Agent Zero's twin sister?" Emma asked.

"Yes." he said.

"Then what is she doing here? In that cryo-cell?" Kayla asked.

"She didn't agree with Stryker's actions of capturing mutants. She tried to set them free, only to have Zero imprison her." Shinji explained.

"I thought _you_ captured her." Emma said.

"I did. But Zero was the one who put her into that cryo-cell. He figured it was better that way." Shinji said.

"Great. So what do we do now?" Emma asked.

"We get out of here as soon as we can." Shinji said.

"I'm going with you!" Diane hissed.

"What?" he gasped.

"My brother's dead and I was imprisoned by you! The way I figure it, you owe me!" she hissed.

"Yeah, I know. But we should get you some clothes first." he said.

"Grrr." Diane hissed as the quartet quickly moved out of the medical bay.

"Thanks again." Shinji said to the doctor who had patched up Kayla.

The quartet eventually got to the armory, where Diane quickly found a uniform to fit her.

Black boots, black cargo pants, belt, a new gray t-shirt, a black vest with gun holsters, and finally a quartet of polished silver Beretta 92F handguns, plus clips. Amazingly enough, they all fit her, which spoke more for her physique than anything else.

"Alright. I'm ready." Diane said as she loaded her handguns.

"Do you know how to use those things?" Emma asked.

Just then, a quartet of armed men rushed into the armory.

"FREEZE!" the soldiers shouted.

Diane squinted her eyes, before she leapt into the air and over Shinji, Emma and Kayla, her handguns in hand as she opened fire upon the men.

Four bullets, four heads, and all dead in the two seconds before she landed on her feet.

"Next question." Shinji said as the two other female mutants looked on in amazement.

"So... she's got..." Kayla started to ask.

"All the same powers as Zero. Enhanced speed, reflexes, agility, she can jump really far, and has superhuman accuracy with firearms." Shinji said.

"Right. Let's go."

The quartet of mutants quickly moved from the armory and out of the base, even as a massive explosion reverberated across the entire Island.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Back outside, atop one of the Cooling Towers, Logan and Victor were fighting Deadpool.

Despite their hatred for each other, the pair actually worked well together in order to defeat Deadpool. The mutant killer teleported to the other side of the cooling tower, where he fired his optic energy blasts at the pair. Logan blocked the energy attacks, which superheated his claws, which distracted him enough so that Victor could race around the tower and get behind Deadpool.

Deadpool took his eyes off of Logan long enough to refocus them on Victor, blasting him in the chest and knocking him down as he got up and loomed over the feral mutant before firing again.

It was in this instance that Logan rushed up behind him and sliced his neck, before kicking him off the tower. But Deadpool's laser beams were still active, destroying the Cooling Tower in the process as his head spiraled downwards.

Victor was the first to go, leaving Logan to jump off the collapsing tower, and hit the ground hard.

A massive piece of the tower was about to crash down upon him, when a single figure exploded through the air, shattering the tower debris and saving Logan's life.

It was Gambit.

"Did you miss me?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh, Jeez!" Logan huffed in annoyance.

"You know, when you said you were going to kill everybody, I thought you may have been exaggerating." Gambit said.

"Do I look like a guy who exaggerates?" he asked.

"You're welcome." the Cajun card player stated.

Logan suddenly cocked his head as he heard Kayla's voice through the cloud of debris.

"There's a bunch of kids trying to get off the island. Make sure they get out." Logan said.

"I'm on it." Gambit said before rushing off.

As he left, Logan followed the voice, Kayla's voice, and quickly found her being carried by Shinji, her sister Emma following behind her, and all three being followed by a heavily armed woman who reminded him of Zero. Logan quickly took notice of the gauze that was wrapped around Kayla's gut, a small splotch of blood seeping through it, but also the small amount of blood dripping from her leg.

"Kayla!" Logan gasped. "What happened?"

"She got shot on the way out. John and Fred left to get the other mutants out of here." Shinji explained to him. "We managed to get her stomach patched, but on the way out the cooling tower exploded and collapsed and she caught some debris in the leg."

"I'll take her." Logan said and Shinji willingly handed the woman over to him.

"I love you, Logan." Kayla said, bringing herself up to kiss Logan softly on the lips.

Logan pressed his forehead against hers as she said that, not saying anything himself. He then turned to the woman with the guns.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Diane North. I'm... Zero's twin sister." the Asian woman said.

Logan looked at Shinji. "Where'd you get her?"

"Long story." Shinji said.

"Right. Come on. Let's get you out of here." Logan said to Kayla.

The quintet were walking back to Remy's seaplane, Logan carrying Kayla, Shinji on his right, Emma on his left, and Diane right behind Emma.

Just then, a shot rang out. Logan shouted in pain as a bullet tore through his shoulder.

"ARGH!" he shouted, dropping himself to his knees with Kayla still in his arms.

Shinji, Emma and Diane quickly spun around, each of them reacting in different ways. The boy pulled his swords from his back, the girl's skin transforming into diamonds, the woman pulling out her handguns.

Standing several meters away from the group was Colonel Stryker, a single six-shot handgun in his right hand, an M-60 machine gun in his left hand.

Stryker lowered his handgun and raised his machine gun. Pulling the trigger he fired a spray of bullets towards the mutants, hoping to at least hit two of them.

Diane dove to the left as Shinji lunged to the right. Emma remained in front of Logan, shielding them both as Logan himself shielded Kayla from the spray of bullets.

Emma's diamond body deflected the bullets from the machine gun, even as Stryker raised his handgun and fired, an Adamantium bullet ripping through her shoulder.

"AHH!" she cried out.

"EMMA!" Kayla shouted.

Stryker grinned at hearing this, before he noticed, out of the corner of his eyes, two people coming at him from both sides.

His eyes instantly darted left and right, realizing what was happening, as he raised both of his hands up, pulled them apart towards his attackers, and pulling the trigger on both guns to hit them.

To his left, Diane North emerged from behind a large pile of debris, firing at the Colonel. Some of her bullets actually hitting Stryker's bullets and causing them to drop to the ground. While this happened, Shinji Ikari ran towards him from the right, racing towards the man with murderous intent in his eyes as his swords quickly spun around and around.

Sensing that Shinji was closer, Stryker turned to face him, turning both guns towards him even as he ducked back behind a large chuck of fallen Reactor Tower. Undeterred, Shinji raced up the slope of the debris where he saw an incline, and leapt into the air where Stryker was. At the last second, Stryker looked up and saw him, aiming his handgun up at Shinji, and fired, only to gasp in shock as the mutant swords master pulled his black Adamantium blades in front of him, like an X, to deflect the Adamantium bullet and saving himself.

The last thing Stryker saw, was Shinji unfurling his black blades like a scissors, and slashing him across his neck as he landed right in front of him.

From his crouched position, Shinji looked up at Stryker in anger. Stryker just looking down at Shinji in shock, even as his head pitched forward and literally fell from his body all the way to the ground. His body followed suit, falling backwards, and collapsed to the ground, both guns still in hand.

Shinji stood up and sheathed his swords before moving over to the handgun and picking it up. He pulled the pin back and rolled the six-round chamber out from the gun. Seeing two bullets left, Shinji pulled them out of the chambers and looked at them.

_Adamantium bullets. I thought so._ Shinji thought as he put the gun back in Stryker's hand and pocketed the bullets.

"So, you got him?" Diane asked, walking up to Shinji.

"Yeah. You alright?" Shinji asked.

"I'm good. Better now that he's dead." she said.

The pair turned around and rushed back to where their friends were. When they arrived he saw that Emma was holding her shoulder in pain.

"What happened?" Shinji asked.

"One of the bullets... tore through my skin. I don't even know how. My skin was diamond hard when it hit me." Emma whimpered in pain.

"Adamantium bullets." Shinji said as he picked Emma up, bridal style, and carried her like Logan was carrying Kayla.

Despite her pain, Emma actually blushed.

"So, I'm guessing Stryker's dead?" Logan asked.

"You guess right." Shinji said as the group headed back to the seaplane.

Once they arrived, Shinji started tending to Emma's wound using the First Aid kit that Remy had aboard the plane, as Logan helped Kayla sit comfortably in her own chair.

While he was doing that, both Kayla and Logan noticed the blush that came across Emma's face as Shinji was dressing her wound. Diane seemed indifferent, though she did smirk a little as Emma blushed.

Just then, Remy, John and Fred arrived.

"Where are the kids?" Logan asked the trio.

"They got off the island. Some bald guy in a helicopter." Fred said.

"He said his name was Charles Xavier." John said.

"Thought it, actually." Fred said.

"A mutant?" Diane asked.

"Yeah. Who are you?" Remy asked.

"Diane North. She's Zero's sister." Shinji said.

John and Fred looked at the woman in shock.

"Zero had a sister?" John asked.

"I thought you were dead." Fred said.

"Not dead. Just iced." Diane said.

"The kids went with this Xavier guy?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah. Said he was taking them to his school, in Westchester." John said.

Shinji sighed in relief. "Good. Now we need to get out of here."

"Uh..." Gambit started to say, hesitating a bit.

"What's wrong?" Fred asked.

"I can't take... all of you... in my plane." the card-player said.

The group looked at each other and the plane, and realized he was right, even as sirens started to sound in the distance.

"Alright, you guys get out of here." Shinji said to Remy, Logan, Kayla and Emma. "John, Fred, Diane and I will find another way. We'll meet up with you later."

"Where?" Emma asked.

"Westchester, New York." he said.

The sirens continued to grow louder and the group realized they didn't have any other better option.

"Wait! Why am I going with you?" Diane asked.

"Because you're not as injured as the others, and I don't think that Logan will just let Kayla and her sister go away with Gambit." Shinji said.

"He's right." Logan said.

"Alright, fine!" Diana huffed.

The quartet of mutants moved away from the plane as Remy started up the engine.

Within seconds, the plane was in the air. The sounds of sirens getting closer.

"So, how do we get out of here?" John asked.

"Follow me." Shinji said as he quickly moved out.

Diane easily followed behind the sword master, John teleporting in order to keep up, which left Fred to keep up by jogging behind them. Even though he was in better shape than he had been a few days ago, the others were still faster than him.

The group of mutants were able to get off the Island without much trouble, finding a truck that they had to hotwire in order to get out of the area.

Their destination: Westchester, and hopefully to a better life than they had beforehand.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Authors Notes:

To anyone who is curious, I created Diane North to be Zero's replacement on this new Team X. She has all his skills and abilities, but she looks like Maggie Q.

Hope everyone likes that.

And just so everyone knows... the next chapter will feature Magneto and his Brotherhood. So be prepared for a showdown of epic proportions.


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